City Council - Regular Meeting

0:16 – 0:47•DSDon Schwab

Good afternoon, residents of Everett, Washington. I would like to call to order the Everett City Council meeting of September 23rd, 2026. For information on council meetings and how to participate, please visit our website at everettwad.gov slash city council. Please note, we don't allow comments of any kind of campaigning, whether for or against ballot measures or candidate running for office. We also do not accept comments focused on personal matters that are unrelated to city business. Clerk, will you please take the roll?

0:57•DSDon Schwab

Here. And at this time, I'd like to ask Vice President Ryan to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

1:20•DSDon Schwab

Thank you. And this time I'd like to ask council members Arlingo to read the land acknowledgment.

1:27 – 1:54•BZBen Zarlingo

This Council acknowledges the original inhabitants of this place, the Tlaloc people and their successors, the Tlaloc tribes. Since time immemorial, they've hunted, fished, gathered on, and taken care of these lands and waters. We respect their sovereignty, their right to self-determination, and honor their sacred spiritual connection with the land and water. We will strive to be honest about our past mistakes and bring about a future that includes their people, stories, and voices to form a more just and equitable society.

1:56•DSDon Schwab

Thank you. Good afternoon. I keep wanting to say evening. These afternoon meetings are like...

5:40 – 6:29•DSDon Schwab

I will. And it is an honor before you. So welcome and welcome to not only the best fire department in the state, but also the best city. So I'm very honored to have you as part of our family. So I'd like to read our pledge. So do you solemnly swear that you will faithfully execute the duties of firefighter with integrity, courage, and dedication? Do you pledge to serve your community, to protect lives and property, and to uphold the mission and values of the Everett Fire Department? Furthermore, will you respect the trust placed in you by the citizens and perform your duties to the best of you

7:19•DSDon Schwab

Okay. Thank you very much. So on to old business. Do we hear a motion to approve the minutes for September 16th, 2026?

7:28•DSDon Schwab

Second. Motion and second's been made. Clerk, please take the roll.

7:41 – 8:03•DSDon Schwab

Yes. Now it's time for public comment, which includes written comment acknowledgement. Under our rules, written comments shall be considered in the same manner as oral comments. The person submitting comments must provide their name and state of residence. Written comments require this to be made part of the Council official records. Hello, Angie. Do we have any written comments and did anyone sign up to speak?

21:43•DSDon Schwab

Okay, thank you very much. We'll go to council comments beginning with Council Member Bader.

21:48 – 23:41•SBScott Bader

Thanks, House President. Just two reports. One, Transportation Advisory Committee last week did a briefing on the Highway 99 Linwood and unincorporated Snohomish County pre-design study. If anybody Any of our constituents regularly use highway 99 south of the city limits I'd encourage them to take a look at that was a fascinating presentation about the what Washington State Department transportation is considering to improve that stretch of highway 99. But they also had a briefing from sound transit about that. uh everett link extension and again a very interesting presentation as well but as

23:41 – 25:50•PRPaula Rhyne

Thank you on Monday I attended the little neighborhood association meeting and their next meeting will be in November, so hope to see and neighbors there. Yesterday I virtually attended the list ground table event they got together stakeholders down in the connect casino road neighborhood to share more about the. Thank you. The sound transit was there to share more about the draft EIS that has come out recently and the potential station locations, particularly in the casino road neighborhood. They as a reiterate with the mayor shared comment period is open for I believe it's 90 days. So I enco

25:51•DSDon Schwab

No comment this week. Thank you. Councilman Weir.

25:54 – 27:04•EWErica Weir

Hi. So Thursday I was at the Delta Neighborhood Association meeting and some very lively conversation going there. I had some speakers. That was great to see people come out for the conversations about the potential merger as well as a lot of interest in what's happening with Baker Heights and how we can help move that in a more positive direction since it's been shut down for quite some time. And Saturday Bayside neighborhood held their bark in the park. Instead of being at Clark Park, they were at the New Possum Lodge, the indoor dog park on record, and they had a great turnout, a lot of fun

27:05 – 27:43•BZBen Zarlingo

cared about Paul come on over and that's it for me council members well no report just a quick comment to follow up on council member Bader's comment about housing in the Silver Lake area there is a proposal now in in code review or in permit review for I think two sites and about 53 townhouses there so I want to congratulate the administration the city for working on this and And I think it ratifies the decision a couple of years ago to staff up and increase training and the management of that team to be as productive as we can, as low friction as we can be in terms of delivering new housing.

27:45 – 29:07•DSDon Schwab

Thank you. And for my comments, I had two neighborhood meetings, the View Ridge Madison and the Boulevard Bluffs Neighborhood Association meeting. I wanted to thank Jeff Parfait for organizing the chili feed. There were 100 plus people and I happened to be one of the judges, so I came well prepared and paid the price, but we made a good decision. One theme that I saw in both neighborhoods was there were new residents, mostly from like King County and Seattle, and they were very impressed and very thankful for finding a home here in Everett. It was a little more reasonable. And they really appr

29:10•DSDon Schwab

Okay, thank you. So we'll move to our consent items. We have six consent items. Do I have a motion?

29:20•DSDon Schwab

Okay, motion and second's been made. Clerk, please take the vote.

29:32 – 30:31•DSDon Schwab

Yes. Okay, we'll move to item number seven, Council Bill 2609-50. First reading, adopt an ordinance creating a special improvement project entitled Walter E. Hall Playground Renovation, Fund 354, Program 111, and Fund 1141. that's 141 lots of ones there and program 29 to accumulate project costs in the amount of 1 250 000 the third and final reading will be October 7 2026. do I have any Council comments or questions Okay we'll move on to our action item, which is number eight Council bill 2608 dash 49 third and final reading adopt an ordinance approving the appropriations of the 2026 revive ci

30:34•DSDon Schwab

Second second Okay, is there any questions or comments from Council. Councillor Bader.

30:40 – 30:56•SBScott Bader

Thanks, President. Just I think a reminder, maybe it'd be better articulated by our administration folks, but this is a routine measure that we do every year, several times every year to adjust the budget as changes come through, routine changes come through. Hopefully if I...

30:57 – 31:15•DSDon Schwab

didn't summarize that correctly somebody will step in and say that's our constituents okay thank you all right thank you for that it's a nice reminder we're not approving the budget we're constantly making adjustments based on the needs of the city so appreciate that comment any other questions councilman thanks um i uh just a request to um

31:16 – 31:43•PRPaula Rhyne

City Council Chambers, Include more information online for the for the budget amendment, if you click on it through the agenda just shows kind of like a cover sheet and. City Council Chambers, Like a pretty high level overview, but some of those line items, I think, are helpful for explaining more about the itemization of each of the things that we've seen during the presentations and what I know I know susie used to send out. City Council Chambers, The ledgers with like the blue boxes and all sorts of helpful information, but just for transparency sake I.

32:09 – 32:28•DSDon Schwab

Yes. Okay. We'll move on to item number nine. It's a public hearing and briefing. 2027 proposed budget revenue briefing. And I will now open the public hearing. Okay. John Potter, Jennifer do you have.

32:40•DSDon Schwab

John Potter, You make an introduction about could we include the requirements state requirements statutory requirements for this briefing.

47:51 – 48:11•EWErica Weir

um please note that the figures that you see on this page oh yes um and what percentage of property tax actually comes to the city because i believe it's relatively low okay i wasn't even sure that it was that high but that's okay thank you that's what i've in everett okay thank you

48:15•EWErica Weir

I was curious how much of property tax revenue generated actually comes to the city. Yeah, I didn't know what the percentage.

48:28•DSDon Schwab

Plus about four and a half for the EMS, which is not part of the general.

48:31•EWErica Weir

Getting a consensus there, but that's great. Thank you, just wanted to remind you.

50:38•DSDon Schwab

Quick question, just wanted you to repeat out of the nine point nine percent point eight five is goes to the city of Everett.

51:38•DSDon Schwab

Council Member Zerningo, you had a question?

51:40•BZBen Zarlingo

That was the point I was going to ask about, so thank you.

51:45 – 52:03•DSDon Schwab

I'll just make a comment. Historically, the percentage of our revenue or dependence on sales tax has gone up over the years. That had a lot to do with the point of sales, the purchasing online, where the sales tax goes directly to the zip code.

59:12•DSDon Schwab

Any questions from Council at this point.

1:01:49 – 1:02:00•PRPaula Rhyne

Karen Hollweg, Thanks Chris can you walk through. Karen Hollweg, Your forecasting methods for what the expected cost of the jail fees and indigent Defense expenses might be.

1:03:01•PRPaula Rhyne

And for jail fees, I've been a little bit out of the loop on the timeline for when we will know what the new rates are going to be.

1:04:57•DSDon Schwab

Thank you, thank you very much right, thank you for the presentation at this time will angie is there anyone here from the public that wishes to speak.

1:05:11•DSDon Schwab

OK. At this time, I would accept a motion to close the public hearing. Council Member Bader, so moved. Seconded. OK. Motion and second is made. Clerk, please take the roll.

1:05:30•DSDon Schwab

Yes. OK. At this time, there's no vote on this resolution, just on the public hearing. Okay, and that's all I have on our list. So with no further business, we are now adjourned.